Jubilee year 2023
Learn more about the 375th anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia.
The Peace Prize
Every two years, Osnabrück awards the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize.
Erich-Maria-Remarque-peace-prize
There is a building very close to Osnabrück's old town centre that is particularly striking due to its exterior. It was designed by the well-known American architect Daniel Libeskind to house the artistic work of Felix Nussbaum. With more than 200 paintings, the house has the largest collection of the artist, who was murdered in Auschwitz.
Nussbaum, the Jewish artist who was born in Osnabrück in 1904 and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944, captured the experiences of the decades after the First World War and in particular the National Socialist era from 1933 onwards in his work like no other. Time and again, he sought out motifs in his environment in exile or portrayed himself as a refugee. This makes the museum dedicated to him a socio-political place. The Felix Nussbaum House is a reminder of the Holocaust.
How do we want to, how can we live together in peace? This is the central question posed in the Felix Nussbaum House. The museum becomes a peace laboratory. Changing exhibitions, discussion events, readings, discussions with contemporary witnesses, a Yiddish music series and, last but not least, Libeskind's architecture invite visitors to engage with the pressing questions of our time. The house is an integral part of the Osnabrück Museum Quarter, which combines the Museum of Cultural History, the Villa Schlikker and the Akzisehaus.
The society, which is dedicated to the legacy of the artist who was murdered by the Nazis, has adopted an important quote from Felix Nussbaum: "If I perish, don't let my paintings die," the Osnabrück-born artist once said. The aim of the Felix Nussbaum Society is to familiarise the public with the life and work of the painter. Accordingly, they initiate and organise projects and events that provide information about Felix Nussbaum, his life, his persecution and escape, his work in exile and finally his murder by the Nazis in Auschwitz.
The Felix Nussbaum Society was founded in 1987. It is partly thanks to the consistent commitment of its members that the plans to build the Felix Nussbaum House in Osnabrück in 1998 were realised. The museum building, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, presents a large part of Nussbaum's oeuvre.
Since 2000, the members' magazine "FN-Nachrichten" has provided regular information about the society's activities as well as current research and events relating to the artist.
In order not to "let the pictures die", the society has commissioned 20 high-quality reproductions of Nussbaum's most important pictures. Professionally packed in transport boxes specially made for this purpose, the reproductions will be sent on tour under the motto "On the road with Felix Nussbaum" to be exhibited in important cultural and art centres in Europe.
"Our civic commitment is based on the deep conviction that the examination of the life and work of the painter Felix Nussbaum makes an important contribution to shaping an open and tolerant society," is how the members of the organisation describe their intention.